The Depression spread around the world.

• European countries trying to recover from the ravages of WWI faced high war debts.

• Germany was still paying war reparations.

• With Americans unable to buy their goods now, European economies suffered even more.

The situation became worse when Congress passed the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act.

• It was supposed to push Americans to buy goods made in the US and help American Industries.

• Instead imports from Europe declined. They had less money to spend on US goods and American Industry suffered.

• The Depression brought suffering and hardship to many Americans. Millions of people lost their jobs. Some went hungry or became homeless.

• Shantytowns were created, where they lived in little shacks they made out of scrap material.

• Some ate in soup kitchens (offered free food) or breadlines (feed the hungry), where charities served meals to the needy. Those who could not afford to buy food stood in bread lines to receive free food.

• Conditions for African Americans and Latinos were especially difficult. They had higher unemployment, were paid less than whites and violence was directed against them.

• Twenty-four African Americans died by lynching in 1933.

• Whites attacked African Americans and they demanded Latino American be sent back to the countries they came from.

Farm Failure• The biggest problems were in farming. After the war, the demand

of food dropped and farmers suffered. The widespread problem of joblessness and poverty cut down the demand for food and many Americans simply went hungry.

• By 1933, with farmers unable to sell food they produced, farm prices had sunk to 50 percent of their already low 1929 levels.

• Lower prices meant lower income for farmers, and many borrowed money from banks to pay for land and equipment.

• As incomes dropped, farmers couldn’t pay back their loans, and in the first five years of the 1930s, hundreds of thousands of farms went bankrupt or suffered foreclosure.

A Farm Foreclosure

A farm is being sold at a foreclosure sale in Iowa. Military police were on hand to keep farmers from disrupting the auction. ca. 1935.

• Initial Reaction= Depression will not last long, people can take care of themselves

• Not the government's problem

• Let Charities and orgs take care of the people

• Gov't handouts weaken the moral fiber of people

“Hooverville”• Some families were

forced to live in shanty towns– A grouping of shacks

and tents in vacant lots

• They were referred to

as “Hoovervilles” because of President Hoover’s lack of help during the depression.

Central Park, New York City

Many waited in unemployment lines hoping for a job.

People in cities would wait in line for bread to bring to their family.

Christmas Day Breadlines in New York City, 1931

• To make matters worse, a long drought hit the Great Plains. There was little rain from Texas to N. Dakota. The grass that had once held the soil in place was now gone. When powerful winds swept across the Great Plains, the soil simply blew away. This dry area of blowing soil was

called the Dust Bowl. (lasted about ten years)

The Great Plains Were Buried

• Crops turned to dust=No food to be sent out

• Homes buried

• Fields blown away

• Great Plains in state of emergency

• Dust Bowl the #1 weather crisis of the 20th century

A drought on the Plains lead to dust storms that destroyed crops.

“The Dust Bowl”

Dustbowl

A traveler noticed a nice new hat by the side of the road, and he stopped to pick it up. Under the hat was a man, buried up to his neck in the dust! As he dug the poor fellow out, the traveler asked if he wanted a ride into town. "No, I'll get there myself," the man replied, "I'm on a horse."

Effects on the American Family

• Some families broke apart under the strain of poverty & unemployment.

• Many men felt ashamed because they had lost their jobs. Some men simply left their families and wandered the

country looking for work.(Hobos ) • Women tried to work, too. But they

were paid less than men and many people were complaining that employers should not hire women.

• Children suffered terribly from poverty and malnutrition related diseases. Some children ran away from home in search for work.

• “If I leave my mother, it will mean one less mouth to feed” Eugene Williams age 13.

• The federal government did not give direct relief-cash, or food directly to the poor people.

• Charities and some city governments struggled to help.

• States collected less tax money.

• Programs like child welfare were cut.

• School days were shortened or closed all together.

• Children often went to work to help out their families; they often labored in sweatshops under horrendous conditions.

• Rates of suicide and mental illness increased.

• Young people were forced to give up their dreams of college.

Man in hobo jungle killing turtle to make soup, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Sept. 1939.

Some families were forced to relocate because they had no money.

Two Families During the Depression

Some families tried to make money by selling useful crafts like baskets.

1929-1939• Stock market

crash

• Didn’t realize the effect it would have

• No money to replenish what was borrowed

Many found being broke humiliating.